Mega Bog shares video for new single ‘Cactus People’
MEGA BOG SHARES VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE ‘CACTUS PEOPLE’
NEW ALBUM END OF EVERYTHING OUT 19 MAY VIA MEXICAN SUMMER
UK TOUR THIS SUMMER INCLUDING LONDON’S THE LEXINGTON ON 16 AUGUST AS WELL AS GREEN MAN FESTIVAL
“Experimental pop of a uniquely unbounded nature”
8/10 Uncut
“End of Everything‘s surface gloss barely conceals a raw intensity”
4/5 Mojo
“Whimsical and a little bit sinister, delving into the mysteries and terrors of how other people perceive us”
The Guardian
“Birgy has a knack for writing ambiguous alt-pop lyrics like few others who aren’t David Bowie can”
Loud and Quiet
“Daring and theatrical”
Beats Per Minute
“A strikingly cathartic embrace of one’s own multitudes”
Our Culture
“You’ll be hard pressed to listen to a more gloriously compelling song this week, or any other week for that matter”
God Is In The TV
Watch the video for ‘Cactus People’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_V207WxyB0
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Mega Bog — the experimental pop outfit fronted by Erin Birgy — presents ‘Cactus People’, the new single from her forthcoming album, End of Everything, out 19 May on Mexican Summer. End of Everything is a treacherous expression of an apocalyptic end and makes space for new possibilities. Following singles ‘The Clown‘ and ‘Love Is‘, album opener ‘Cactus People’ features a narrator who digs her claws into the mud as she is torn from her beloved. “The grass and all its snaky tongues try to pull you in // I say let them win”, Birgy intones, while surrendering to tortuous abandonment. What might feel like an elegy to planet Earth suddenly speeds up into a frenetic chorus – not a call to party among society’s ashes, but acknowledging that we can exist in the face of catastrophe.
Of ‘Cactus People’ and its accompanying video, Birgy states:
“This song is a transparent call to practice addressing what lies at the feared feet of abandonment. All of a sudden I realized I was running away, with a black widow bite, collapsing on a trail several hours out of town, alone. Reacting to something inevitable, something I desired even, and taking notes of images arising while pitting emotionality against logic. At the time they felt like enemies, but somewhere in there was a seed wailing, ‘just watch yourself unfold.’”“While making the video for ‘Cactus People,’ similar thrills and fears had me run to Greece, where I watched old patterns rear their noses once more, but with a brazen clarity – geographically, surrounded by new and inspiring friends, all with that ancient, echoing reminder of the stones we were born to bear, who we’ll have to embrace as company to find any peace throughout this life.”
End of Everything delivers a hit straight to collective awareness and healing. In 2020, Birgy was surrounded by seemingly endless turmoil: mass death, a burning planet, and a personal reckoning when past traumas met fresh ones. Living in Los Angeles, against the backdrop of horrifying forest fires, she questioned what perspective to use moving forward in such dumbfounded awe. Deciding to seize something tangible, she produced a record that spoke of surrender, of mourning, and support in the face of tumultuous self-reflection.
End of Everything was recorded with James Krivchenia (Big Thief) who co-produced the record with Birgy and played drums, bringing his rhythmic mastery and wild percussive spirit. Krivchenia also mixed the record and co-engineered it with Phil Hartunian. The album’s fantastical textures and heavy polyphony owe a great deal to synthesiser maestro and pianist Aaron Otheim. Zach Burba, one of the founding members of Mega Bog, plays bass, while Will Segerstrom, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), and Jackson Macintosh (Drugdealer, TOPS) contribute electric guitars.
End of Everything is a multifaceted body of work accompanied by The Practice of Hell Ending, Birgy’s first published collection of poetry. Written alongside the album, The Practice of Hell Ending beckons the reader to travel further into the landscapes of Birgy’s inner worlds.This summer, Birgy will play a handful of headline shows the UK in support of End of Everything as well as appearing at this years Green Man Festival. Full dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.
High-res images can be found here
Photo credit: Amanda Jasnowski Pascual
Pre-order End of Everything here:
https://megabog.ochre.store/
Tour dates:
13 Aug – Glasgow @ The Hug & Pint
14 Aug – Manchester @ YES (basement)
15 Aug – Brighton @ The Prince Albert
16 Aug – London @ The Lexington
17-20 Aug – Brecon Beacons @ Green Man Festival
Tickets are available here:
https://megabog.com/
End of Everything tracklist:
1. Cactus People
2. The Clown
3. Love Is
4. Don’t Doom Me Now
5. All and Everything
6. Anthropocene
7. Complete Book of Roses
8. End of Everything
Praise for Life, and Another:
“[Erin Birgy is] funny and messy and writes like the dreamiest kid on the playground and also the wisest old man… she makes it seem like even the tiniest protean critter is a marvelous sight to behold”
8.0 Pitchfork
“It’s the glorious idiosyncratic performances and avant-pop soundscapes unique to Erin Birgy that utterly envelops the listener”
The Quietus
“Confounding, complex and exhilarating”
8/10 The Line of Best Fit
“Wonderfully eclectic and strangely uplifting”
8/10 Uncut
‘4/5 Mojo’
“One of 2021’s most impressive and poignant examples of progressive rock”
The Wire
“Incredible trip of an album”
8/10 God Is In The TV